This three day class, presented by the director of Bonneville School of Sailing and Seamanship, has been specifically designed with the entry-level sailor in mind. For anyone who has ever been curious as to what it's like to harness the wind and sail away to new adventures, this class is for you. Three days of class work (1.5 hours each day) on theory, physics, terminology, navigation, weather and much more, will then be applied to hands on sailing, out on the water, during our regular sailing season.

The information contained in this course will also focus on preparing the participant to successfully complete the 80 question written exam, for the U.S. Sailing, Basic Keelboat Certificate.

Lesson 1Nautical Etymology and Parts of a Boat. Maritime language is a language unto itself. Learn the history and development of words you may have heard, but are not sure of their meaning. Words like fathom, crows nest, cup of Joe, son of a gun, take us back to the earliest beginnings of our modern language. Once we've learned "salty speak", we're introduced to the various parts of a boat, which also have curious and unusual terminology affixed. Skeg, shrouds, lazarette, fo'c'sle, saloon and so on.

Lesson 2Wind, The Invisible Force. It doesn't matter if you're an ocean navigator, competitive racer, or local day sailor, a solid understanding of wind and what makes it blow, is fundamental to all mariners. A working knowledge of barometric pressure, Coriolis effect, cloud identification and local meteorological data will be introduced. Bernoulli's Principal as applied to "up wind" sailing and sail trim will be explained.

Lesson 3Sailing in a Desert. Utah Lake is the largest naturally occurring, fresh water lake, west of the Mississippi. At 27 miles long and 13 miles wide, it's not too hard to get disoriented, if you haven't been paying attention. And if you decide to join us on one of our blue water cruises to Catalina Island or the BVI's, learning some basic navigation skills is a must. Learn how to navigate your vessel using latitude and longitude coordinates. We will also explore the use of GPS and celestial navigation tools.